After a hectic few months we’ve taken a trip down South to catch up with friends, family and exhibitions.
Sonia Delaunay was top of my list, I’ve admired her work for years and remember seeing bits and pieces on various trips to Paris, taking Art students to the galleries there was an annual occurrence in a previous role.
So, Tate Modern was the target today. It was fabulous. Room after room of the fantastic Ms Delaunay, paintings, textiles, fashion, furniture and mosaic.
(It’s on for a couple more weeks, go if you can!)
Her sense of colour is so exhilarating, from the earliest Gauguin and Fauve inspired pieces to abstracts of the 1970’s. Most inspiring to an aspiring textile artist is the way she used both fine at and textile media as fluent channels for her ideas on simultaneous contrasts.
The geometric forms and bold colours look modern on fabric and paper. Her way of mixing life and art, so interior or fashion design reflect the ideas explored in paintings still appeals. (Although, perhaps not the knitted wool swimsuit!)
She would seem to have been a person who really loved life and was enthusiastic about living in the moment. Her excitement over electric lighting on Parisian streets in the early Twentieth Century, her paintings capturing Spanish markets and Flamenco dancers all show a passion for what she found around her.
It was a glorious couple of hours, I think the piece I most loved was the ‘Bal Buliers’ showing Parisiens dancing the Tango, closely followed by the Flamenco scenes. But I wouldn’t say no if offered the scarlet and eau de nil linen coat!
The exhibition reminded me of the need to keep sketchbooks and ideas flowing, of how much I like the combination of text and image, and the power of colour to capture a sense of place and time.
I’ll be digging out my Delaunay books when I get back to the studio!
Donna Cheshire Textiles 